Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 36: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

666 Hoskins in the lead, scrambling with diffi- culty with his manacled hands, they climbed up the steep, wooded slope rising from the roadside. Two or three hundred feet they went; then Jem called a halt. The spot was absolutely screened from the road by the thick pines and underbrush. Jem forced his prisoner to a sitting posi- tion, with his back against a tree trunk. With the tow rope he securely tied Hoskins to the tree, and gagged him with his hand- kerchief. Trussed, helpless and gagged, Hoskins glared viciously at his captor. “Sorry, old-timer,” Jem again regret- fully said. ‘I can’t take no chances, though. Hope I won’t have to leave you here very long.” He dropped back quickly to the road, resumed his seat behind the wheel and sped on his way. He had two motives in the procedure he had just followed: first, should. his suspi- cious be justified, there would be no danger of his having his prisoner taken from him in any encounter that might eventualize; and, secondly, if a fight were to come, he knew it would be against considerable odds’ and he would need to be unhampered in his movements, For some distance he sped along. All was quiet about him. He was still on the narrow side trail connecting the Blue Buttes camp with the main highway from Sky City to Hampden and consequently he encoun- tered no other travelers. He had gone about eight miles and was within a short distance of the junction of the trail with the highway when a heavy log, drawn across the roadway, forced him to jam on his brakes. One end of the log rested on the base of the mountain’s rising slope at the right; the other end projected out into the air beyond the road’s edge at his left. There was no possible passage, without removing the obstruction. Jem cast a keen, piercing eye over the surrounding scene. His glance lingered long over the green, breeze swayed hillside at his right. But nothing unusual made itself visible. Yet that log had certainly reached its present position through human agencies —and that, since he had traveled that road less than two hours ago. ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY, In order to proceed Jem had to remove the log. He made sure his gun was resting easily on his hip. He slipped over the side of the car, on the far side from the mountains, and approached the log. He stooped down—and a sharp report cut the stillness. The dust at Jem’s feet spat up in a little puff. . On the instant Jem flung himself on the ground behind his car. His guns blazed away at the spot on the hillside whence the shot had emanated. Another shot from the ambushed enemy and Jem’s front tire went flat with a dupli- cating report. His rear tire met the same fate. And then, from up the road, came the roar of straining motors. Around the bend they swept, bearing down upon Jem with certain annihilation.. Kurtz and his gang! Jem flung away the two guns he had emptied at the blank mountainside and seized two more from the formidable arsenal bristling in his belt. But he realized the hopelessness of his defense, even as he swung the guns into play. Flanked by the invisible enemy up on the hillside he could not cover himself from the attack of Kurtz. Besides, Kurtz’s men could split into several parties and while one group kept him en- gaged from the front, another group could climb up the mountainside and move around to his rear, under cover of the trees. Kurtz and his followers were by now dis- embarking from their machines. Some of their guns were already beginning to spit viciously in Jem’s direction. Jem flung a final fusillade at them, tossed aside his weapons and leaped over the edge of the road. Slipping and sliding, his hands and face ripping on the brambles, he flung himself down the steep slope, toward the river. Shouts and curses broke forth from the men above. The next moment they were at the edge, sending volley after volley after his leaping form. But now he was shielded | by the swaying trees, his own darting form, too, making a difficult target. The bullets sank into the obstructing tree trunks or whistled harmlessly by his ears. A sudden ominous stillness caused Jem CORNIEGLOOKS.eO